


don't you dare be my baby

by punkrockbadger



Series: don't you dare be my baby [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-05-28
Packaged: 2018-01-26 22:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1705643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punkrockbadger/pseuds/punkrockbadger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You don't know what you're saying, Jim." She quiets suddenly, staring out a window directly behind him, and he knows that their game is over for the night. "Love's all fun and games for you, but what about me?"</p><p>He frowns in confusion, carrying the seed of doubt with him in a deep, dark corner of his heart, until he wakes up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	don't you dare be my baby

**Author's Note:**

> The character of Emmeline Vance is one that hardly gets attention, so this series is just my Emmeline and I feeling out the idea of James Potter and Emmeline Vance as childhood friends who end up fake dating so that "his Emmi" has a cover. 
> 
> Her parents are the traditional type, who want her married to a good, pureblood boy, and James Potter is an excellent actor.

For a long time, James Potter would reply with "Emmi" when asked who his best friend was. Of course, the James Potter that would reply with her name was young, and replaced it with "Sirius" as soon as he became old enough to know that boys and girls simply couldn't be friends without rumors flying anymore. But James Potter, in his heart of hearts, still would trust Emmi Vance with his life with less than a moment's notice, and knows she'd do the same. After all, best friends don't give up on each other, at least not that easily. 

James likes holding her hand sometimes, even at ten years old, and they sneak out of events with sweaty fingers locked together, Emmi pulling the skirt of her dress robes up while they try their best not to get too muddy in the fields outside Potter Manor. The adults whisper about them getting married one day, that a match will be favorable to both the Potter and Vance families, and James and Emmi laugh like little bells ringing discordantly, ruining the melody, because even at this age, they know they will never love each other like that. Emmi calls him little brother in the dark, while they are searching for fireflies amidst the trees, and James loves that more than anything else.

They don't sit together on the train, even though James aches to do so, and he begins to wonder if he's a little too attached. Emmi is only one compartment down, surrounded by a gaggle of girls just like James is surrounded by his bunch of boys, and he wants to speak to her, even if it's just for a second. He hasn't seen her in weeks, something abnormal for them, since they've seen each other practically daily since they could remember. But Emmi has been going to all of those etiquette trainings that James should be going to, but always seems to fall ill before, and he doesn't know if he's even allowed to talk to her anymore.

So he doesn't speak to her on the train, doesn't say a word to her until the Sorting, and finds out that there's no one between "Po" and "Va". They link their pinkies together, both scanning the room to make sure no one sees, until James is called forward. He saves a spot for her at the table, prays for Gryffindor, and she settles in at his left, with Lily Evans at his right. And if their hands tangle together again, under the table, no one says a word.

He spends carefully chosen nights in the common room, never more than once or twice a month, and Emmi joins him after all the girls have gone to bed. James knows that Peter, Sirius and Remus are likely partying upstairs, but he enjoys quiet moments like this with the girl he still calls sister. She still smiles, when he says "big sister" in the same tone she used all those years ago, so he continues saying it. As long as she smiles, he will too. 

She brings a package of Bertie Bott's that she's been sent from home, since her brothers are notorious pranksters who love screwing with their little sister, and James practices scoring goals by throwing the beans into her mouth from across the room. Emmi does the same in the name of practicing Beating, bouncing jelly beans off of rafters to try and get them in his mouth, and they laugh hysterically when James somehow gets two vomit flavored ones in a row. Emmi's eyes shine with unshed tears even as she laughs without restraint, and James knows she planned it, but he can't help but smile because it's just so unapologetically Emmi to pull the rug out from under him once he's been lulled into a sense of complacency. 

"You did it." He remarks hoarsely when he's managed to choke down the disgusting, gelatinous mass. "You did it on purpose."

"So?" She chuckles, rolling her eyes. "You don't have proof."

"Yeah. Proof." He sighs melodramatically, crossing his arms, and neither of the mention the fact that the next three beans he gets are all irritatingly normal. "Y'know, I might love you, Em."

"You don't know what you're saying, Jim." She quiets suddenly, staring out a window directly behind him, and he knows that their game is over for the night. "Love's all fun and games for you, but what about me?"

He frowns in confusion, carrying the seed of doubt with him in a deep, dark corner of his heart, until he wakes up. 

He is thirteen when he sees, for the first time, how Emmi is being paraded around like a dog at a show, how her pretty dresses that she hates so much are meant to make her look soft and feminine, so unlike the courageous fighter he knows she is. It confuses him further, the fact that she puts on a show for the adults that's not even half as perfect as she is, and he asks her that when they are supposed to be dancing together. 

It consists mostly of James mangling her toes while he nervously places his hand ramrod straight on her waist, but she seems not to give a damn, which is the Emmi he knows. 

"How come you do this?" He asks quietly, keeping his voice quiet as he bends his head closer to hers. He can hear the adults cooing and it strikes him with fear rather than mild annoyance, now that he's starting to understand what it is.

"Love isn't a game for me, Jim. I can't just love anyone." She says, and brushes a stray lock of hair that's tumbled into his forehead aside. "There are rules for girls."

"Then love me." He says, resolute in the fact that he will guard her with his life, but still unaware of what love means. After all, they are only a boy and girl of thirteen, still blissfully unaware of what adulthood brings. "I'll stick to the rules for you."

"Doesn't work like that." She chuckles regardless, ruffling his hair when the song ends, and drifts off to some other boy. James is left with his hands feeling strangely empty, and wonders what is going on with his sister. 

"Boys and girls grow apart at this age, James." His father says. "Think nothing of it." 

He doesn't want to grow apart, though. He wants to chase fireflies forever, wants Emmi to whine until he has to hand over his jacket to make her shut up. He wants freedom and wants it for her too. 

So when Emmi owls him in the middle of the night, the summer before their sixth year, he answers yes before reading the question.


End file.
